July 28, 2009

Tis festival season once again in Montreal. A sure sign of summer (and given all the rain and cool temperatures we've been getting, we need every sign we can get)! The Jazz Festival is over and Just for Laughs (a comedy festival) just wrapped up on Sunday. I didn't get a chance to see much this summer, though I did make it to the free Stevie Wonder concert during the jazz fest and to a taping of The Debaters for CBC radio during Just for Laughs, where comedians debated topics such as whether or not all men are a little bit gay and whether the hysteria over swine flu is justified or not.

It's also always a treat to walk around to see the various local and international street performers.

July 21, 2009

A couple of weekends ago, I was the second shooter for a wedding in Cornwall, Ontario, which is about an hour from Montreal. I arrived at the principal photographer's studio and off we went to the house of the bride to photograph her getting ready. When I saw the mother of the bride, she looked somewhat familiar to me, but I had no reason to know her, so I put aside the thought.

During the cocktail hour, a woman approached me to ask if I would take a family portrait at some point in the evening. She introduced herself, and after I told her my name, she had this "I think I know you look" cross her face. At that instant I recognized her as well and we gave each other a big hug.

It turns out that I knew the family of the bride! They had been friends of my family back in Toronto, but we lost touch over time and hadn't seen each other in over 30 years. I actually attended the wedding of the father of the bride back in the late 70s (thus explaining why his wife looked familiar to me). It turned out that there was a seat free at the table of this family, so they invited me to sit with them for dinner and we had a chance to get caught up. It was quite a surreal experience.

July 10, 2009

It feels as though the summer is whizzing by. I've been busy shooting weddings, processing photographs, and making vacation plans. I was hoping to have a little more down time, but I'm truly enjoying all the activity. Have a fabulous weekend!

"People take pictures of the summer, just in case someone thought they had missed it, and to prove that it really existed".Ray Davies